A Study of the Pāramīs

Dasa Pāramīs : Ten Perfections

The word pāramīs literally means perfections. The southern Buddhist commentaries define the Pāramīs as “noble qualities beginning with giving, accompanied by compassion and skillful means, and untainted by craving, conceit, and wrong views.”

Originally, in southern Buddhists texts as explained in the Buddhavangsa, the idea of the Pāramīs was introduced to explain the practices that a bodhisattva undertakes in striving for supreme buddhahood. As time went by, the pāramīs were given an extended interpretation so that they became not exclusively that which a Bodhisattva aiming for Supreme Buddhahood has to fulfill, but they became the qualities that any aspirant for enlightenment — in any mode — has to fulfill. Generally, we speak about people as being engaged in the development of the Pāramīs that correspond to their spiritual aspiration.

In the Southern tradition, these are the Ten Pāramīs; in the Northern tradition they are the Six Paramitās, which are elaborated to ten paramitās. The two sets overlap to a great extent and are in no way mutually exclusive.

In this series, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi explains the Ten Pāramīs in a general way but according to the way that they are explained within the Theravada commentaries in reference to the practice of a Bodhisattva aiming at Supreme Buddhahood.